I seem to be plagued with airport problems and Sydney Airport was no different. I was told that an inbound flight was no enough to get me to New Zealand... I also needed an outbound flight. So with very little freaking out and a few deep breaths I walked over to the ticket counter, calmly bought a one way ticket from Auckland to Fiji for April 18th and checked into my flight. Hope I remember to change that flight!

On the plane I started to get excited about orientation for AustraLearn... being herded around with other Americans like a bunch of sheep... nice padded corners and nothing to be responsible for. I had just one more night by myself in the Auckland airport, so carrying my chemically cleaned shoes still dripping with whatever blue liquid the Biosecurity people use I set off to find a cozy corner.

While sitting around I met a German girl who was also planning for a night in the airport. Before I curled up on my bench for some Zzzs I was told by a security guard that there were better benches upstairs where it was quieter. I followed his advice and yes it was quieter....

...until I woke up at 4 in the morning with the usual airport crowd of international chaos swarming around me. Ugh, not my favorite thing to wake up to and I felt quite odd in my pajamas and stolen airline blankets sitting admist mostly business suits and briefcase. I quickly changed and went down to meet up with AustraLearn.

The first thing that made me realize how much I've been through and how ridiculous this orientation was going to be was the phone card I was handed with instructions to call my parents to let them know I was safe. Hahaha! I didn't even know what time it was back home and there was no way I was going to call my parents at some god-forsaken hour to let them know I was okay when I haven't called them in weeks. They'd probably think I was in some kind of awful trouble or needed help!

The rest of orientation followed a similar theme of padded corners and concentrated American-ness. I quickly discovered that this environment was not good for me, as I was so used to traveling on my own and being among hostelers of all nationalities. I made a pitiful effort at making friends with the other AustraLearners but my heart wasn't really in it. I'm not saying I didn't have fun. I did have a blast. I was just not into being super excited about a new country, which is what everyone else was. New Zealand felt too much like home to me, and the last thing I wanted to be was a tourist.

But a tourist I was and gosh darn, I did some touristy things:

I learned the Haka, a traditional Maori dance...

...went spelunking and absailing in the Waitomo Caves, including an underground zipline...

...and chilled with some sheep.